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Itranspired the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.